Saturday, June 9, 2012

Recently I moved from Beantown to the Big Apple. A bean to an apple. I guess that's an upgrade, no?

While NYC is an exciting place to live, it can also be quite expensive. Not only do you pay over $1,000 for an apartment, but that apartment is probably the size of a closet...and it may not even have a closet.

All these new costs mean I'm trying to save up my money. Luckily, I've always been a fairly frugal person. Just thought I'd share a few money-saving moments that have already occurred during my first week here!

1) Be alert to random giveaways. The other day, I noticed the following on my Twitter feed:

Immediately my no-spendy sense starting tingling. "FREE"?? "All day long" aka after I get out of work? Sure enough, Georgetown Cupcake has a location in the city and it was giving away cupcakes until 10 pm! I treated myself to a white chocolate raspberry cupcake without ever opening my wallet. Now to figure out how to make cupcakes free of calories...

2) Be a smart traveler. One ride on the subway is a whopping $2.50. I quickly did the math (shocking for a communications major, I know) and knew that just taking the subway to and from work 5 days a week would add up to over $100 per month. Add in weekend/night excursions, and my wallet starts to have panic attacks. Luckily the 30-day pass costs $105. It feels like a lot to put down, but ultimately, it saves cash and now I never feel guilty when I make an extra stop for groceries, etc on the way home.

3) Avoiding cable costs? No problem! Okay, so not having cable (aka internet and tv) in your apartment is not good. Thank goodness for smartphones. However, if you're procrastinating on buying cable or just waiting for it to be set up, you can always hit up a local cafe for some wonderfully free wi-fi. My friend actually just wrote a hilarious blog post outlining her feelings toward free wi-fi, which you should read. In fact, I am typing this very blog post while sitting in a Starbucks. Which leads me to my last money-saving moment of the week....

4) If you wait for it, a free thing will come. That's probably bad advice, but I couldn't not mention how I just received a free goody without any effort on my part. While blogging away in the wonderful world of free wi-fi (Starbucks), a barista came by with a free sample of the Vanilla Bean Frappucino! She was handing them out to everyone, although I'd like to think she simply sensed my love for all things low-cost.

So there you go, some frugal moments from my first week in NYC. Have any other Manhattan money-saving tips? Feel free to share them with me!! (See what I did there?)